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Trophies
Hello everyone. I'm putting this out to just get everyone and anyone's views. Fire and EMS companies over the years have been attending parades. If a fire company wins a trophy what does your company do with them? What is your view of them? Are they just dust collectors? Somewhere in time do you just throw them in the trash? Are they part of history for your company? I'm looking for a very open discussion about this. I will give you my view later.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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All of ours go on shelves in the main bingo room (old building) and get dusted about once a month. There is no special place for them at our new building, yet. (Trying to get final occupational permit) Yes, they are historical dust collectors now. I don't see them going any where soon, but you never know.
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I was right we got the permanent op and the trophies were cleaned and placed on the wall in the main entrance hall this evening. Now people can see and read what they say as long as you are 5'8 or taller. The plaques will go up on the following weeks. Now they are cleaned and ready to be showcased properly not 6'-12' off the ground (former location).
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Permalink Reply by RTP on
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Salem8
Thanks for your response. Surprisingly our company went out and bought a really large beautiful cabinet to keep ours in. Unfortunately they put them in and that was basically it. About 2000 I started to take over as an unofficial company historian. This came after I found a stack of photos just laying in a drawer. In that stack was a photo dated 1917 or 1918. After that I went to the company trustees and spoke my peace. I told them this is no way for our company to preserve our history. Also since I did this I have met a great man who owns one of our former pieces of fire apparatus. I happened to get a letter at the fire company from him and replied back to him. Long story short I ended up taking a vocation to meet this man at a fire convention. He even let me drive our old 1954 Mack L engine. I provided this guy with all kinds of information about the Mack. He was very appreciative. I made a very wonderful friend through this trip. Also since I took over I have properly displayed photos of our apparatus and also made sure we have photos of all of our latest apparatus. I have also provided other photos to our companies history. One other highlight of this was finally being able to have some work done to our 1935 Buffalo Fire Corp. Dodge Brothers antique engine. This engine was recently used for a funeral for one of our 50+ years member ( see my photos ). My worry now is what will become of my work now that I'm no longer involved with the fire service. Also our company has consolidated with another company. I know for a fact that the other company has taken their trophies from the past and threw them in the trash. Thankfully a junior fire fighter from that company retreived them and has them in his bedroom. That is why I started this blog. I think our newer fire service is quickly loosing their history. Their pride. When I can find them I will post some pictures on my site of our trophy cases. I encourage all companies please preserve your history. If someone would like to photograph your apparatus, please help them if you can and have the time. Be proud of your apparatus and station. If you own a used piece of fire apparatus that you bought through a dealer, try to find out where that apparatus came from. The company that sold it to the dealer would probably like to see where their past apparatus is now. I know I can't find any information on where our 1989 snorkel went to after a dealer bought it. Plus I'm looking for our 1977 Mack CF which was sold to a dealer in Alabama. Sorry for the long rant, I just have a passion for saving our past, our history.
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Permalink Reply by Joe Stoltz on
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We used to have them on display along the top shelf of our banquet hall and meeting room. When we expanded the fire house in 2000 we packed them all away in boxes or in corners. They are basically dust collectors.
To side-track a little bit, you bring up a great point, about company historians. I was just thinking about this about 6 AM this morning returning from a call. The company history should be taught (or at least made available) to the newer members so that the history and traditions can be understood and carried on. I was thinking that some of our early pictures and a film or two would be good web site additions.
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Permalink Reply by turk182 on
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we built a big case above out turn out gear and put the trophies in it they get cleaned once a month we have parade trophies and softball trophies in there.
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Permalink Reply by ee779 on
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Our company has a very proud history of first and second place trophies! They (the guys before my time) had filled a 5 foot high case the length of the hall. Not long after I joined we built a second case across from the first, since '85 we've filled that one and in the last year started to fill a shelf that goes around the training room. God only knows what we're going to do once that's full!
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